by Calculated Risk on 6/11/2005 12:06:00 PM

From the Sacramento Bee: "More houses 'for sale' a sign of market chill?" A few excerpts:

The number of capital region homes on the market has risen to its highest level since November 2001, suggesting the market might be seeing the first signs of cooling.

So inventories are climbing.

"Inventory is up because of the psychological effect of the media reporting on the 'bubble,' " said Jeff Culbertson, who heads Coldwell Banker's capital region operations, of the barrage of news on a possible price bubble in housing. "Some of those people (investors) bought those properties two years ago and have seen a 50 percent increase in value. A lot of them are saying, 'I rode this up, and maybe I'll relocate my equity someplace else now.' "

And from Analyst Pat Veling, president of Real Data Strategies Inc. on inventories:

"I'm surprised it's happening in the (prime) home buying and selling season, but we need to cool the market's jets a bit because it's going far too far, and far too fast, and we don't want the market to collapse under its own weight like it did in the early 1990s."

But this could just be a one month anomaly.

Last fall the number of homes for sale in some Southern California markets shot up as sales dropped, causing some to conclude a downturn had begun. Since then, sales have picked up and inventory remains relatively low amid rising prices.

So it is too early to tell. But this quote is funny:

"It's too early to panic, for sure," said housing analyst Greg Paquin, president of the Folsom-based Gregory Group.

I hope Mr. Paquin lets us know when it is time to "panic"!